REPRESENTING the Management Association of the Philippines as the incoming chairman of its tax committee, I attended a meeting of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means technical working group on the proposed 'Ease of Paying Taxes Act' last Feb. 2, 2023. One of the welcome discussions was a proposal to change the reckoning time to withhold creditable or expanded withholding taxes by amending Section 57 of the National Internal Revenue Code and require that the obligation to deduct and withhold tax arises at the time payment is made.

Revising and clarifying that the withholding tax applies when an obligation is paid simplifies many issues that have affected taxpayers because current reckoning rules have given rise to numerous problems and burdens for taxpayers.